HungHanks23355 at 07:47, 17 July 2025

2025-07-17T07:47:45Z

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{{Infobox royalty
| name = Hazrat Begum
| title = [[Princess|Shahdukht]] of the [[Mughal Empire]]
| image =
| caption =
| succession =
| reign =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date = {{circa}} 1740
| birth_place = [[Delhi]], [[Delhi Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]] (modern day [[India]])
| death_date =
| death_place =
| burial_place =
| consort = yes
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Ahmad Shah Durrani]]|1757|1772|end= {{Abbr|d.|death}}}}
| house = [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] (by birth)<br>[[Durrani]] (by marriage)
| father = [[Muhammad Shah]]
| mother = [[Sahiba Mahal]]
| religion = [[Islam]]
| image_size =
}}

'''Hazrat Begum''' ({{langx|fa|حضرت بیگم}}; {{langx|ps|حضرت بېګم}}; born {{circa}} 1740), also known as '''Hazrat Mahal'''<ref name="Sarkar1964">{{cite book | author = Sir Jadunath Sarkar | date = 1964 | title = 1771-1788. 3d ed. 1964 | publisher = Orient Longman | pages = 307}}</ref><ref name="Saha1997">{{cite book | author = Dr. B. P. Saha | date = 1997 | title = Begams, Concubines, and Memsahibs | publisher = Vikas Publishing House | pages = 29 | isbn = 9788125902850 }}</ref> and '''Sahiba Begum''',<ref name="Sarkar">{{cite web | author = Sarkar, Jadunath| title=Fall Of The Mughal Empire, Volume 1 | website=Internet Archive | date=1964 | page = 334| url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.43007 | access-date=2021-11-01}}</ref> was a [[Mughal Empire|Mughal princess]], as the daughter of Mughal Emperor [[Muhammad Shah]]. She was a wife of [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], the first emir of the [[Durrani Empire]].

==Life==
Hazrat Begum was born a Mughal princess and was the daughter of Mughal emperor [[Muhammad Shah]] and his wife [[Sahiba Mahal]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sarkar|first1=Jadunath|title=Fall of the Mughal Empire.|date=1999|publisher=Orient Longman|location=Hyderabad|isbn=9788125017615|page=268|edition=4th}}</ref> In April 1748, her father died, and her brother, [[Ahmad Shah Bahadur]], ascended the throne.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Michael|title=The Orchid House: Splendours and Miseries of the Kingdom of Oudh, 1827-1857|date=1960|publisher=Cassell|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZUeAAAAMAAJ&q=chief+queen|language=en}}</ref> His mother, [[Qudsia Begum]], gave pension to the Begums and the children of the late emperor not only from the government's purse but also from her own funds.<ref>{{cite book|first=Savita|last=Kumari|title=Udham Bai: A Glimpse into the Aplendid Life of a Later Mughal Queen|page=51}}</ref>

On 26 May 1754,<ref name="Sarkar"/> Ahmad Shah was attacked on a journey by a band of Marathas under Malhar Rao Holkar.<ref>{{cite book | author = Bilkees I. Latif | date = 2010 | title = Forgotten | publisher = Penguin Books India | pages = 50 | isbn = 978-0-14-306454-1}}</ref> While running away from Sikandrabad, he took along with him Hazrat Begum, his mother [[Qudsia Begum]], his son [[Mahmud Shah Bahadur]], and his favourite wife Inayetpuri Bai, leaving all other empresses and princesses at the mercy of the enemies.<ref>{{cite book | author = Sudha Sharma | title = The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India | publisher = SAGE Publications India | isbn = 9789351505679 | date = March 21, 2016|page=66}}</ref>

At the age of sixteen in February 1756, she became so famous for her matchless beauty that the Mughal emperor [[Alamgir II]], who was then about sixty, used pressure and threats to force Sahiba Mahal and the princess' guardian and step-mother, [[Badshah Begum]], to give him Hazrat Begum's hand in marriage.<ref name=Islamic >{{cite book|last1=Aḥmad|first1=ʻAzīz|last2=Israel|first2=Milton|title=Islamic society and culture: essays in honour of Professor Aziz Ahmad|date=1983|publisher=Manohar|page=146|language=en}}</ref> The princess preferred death over marrying an old wreck of sixty and Alamgir II did not succeed in marrying her.<ref name="Islamic" />

In April 1757, after [[Sack of Delhi (1757)|sacking the imperial capital of Delhi]], the Durrani king Ahmed Shah Abdali desired to marry the deceased Emperor Muhammad Shah's 16-year-old daughter.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Comprehensive History of India: 1712-1772|date=1978|publisher=Orient Longmans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggduAAAAMAAJ&q=Hazrat+sahiba+mahal|language=en}}</ref> As she was only 16 years old, Badshah Begum again resisted handing over her tender charge to an Afghan king 35 years old, but Shah forcibly wedded her on 5 April 1757 in Delhi.<ref name=Sarkar71>{{cite book|last1=Sarkar|first1=Sir Jadunath|title=1754-1771 (Panipat). 3d ed. 1966, 1971 printing|date=1971|publisher=Orient Longman|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RtU5AQAAIAAJ&q=Hazrat+sahiba+mahal|language=en}}</ref> After the wedding celebrations, Ahmad Shah took his young wife back to his native place of [[Afghanistan]]. The weeping bride was accompanied by Badshah Begum, Sahiba Mahal and a few ladies of note from the imperial Mughal harem.<ref name="Sarkar71" />

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Hazrat Begum'''
|2= 2. [[Muhammad Shah|Muhammad Shah, Mughal Emperor]]
|3= 3. [[Sahiba Mahal]]<ref name="Mehta2005">{{cite book | author = Jaswant Lal Mehta | date = 1 January 2005 | title = Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813 | publisher = Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd | pages = 137 | isbn = 978-1-932705-54-6}}</ref>
|4= 4. [[Shahzada (title)|Shahzada]] [[Jahan Shah (Mughal prince)|Jahan Shah]]
|5= 5. Fakhr-un-nissa Begum<ref name="malik">{{cite book|last1=Malik|first1=Zahir Uddin|title=The reign of Muhammad Shah, 1719-1748|date=1977|publisher=Asia Pub. House|location=London|isbn=9780210405987|page=407}}</ref>
|6= 6. Sayid Salabat Khan<ref name="Singh2001">{{cite book | editor = Nagendra Kr Singh | date = 2001 | title = Encyclopaedia of Muslim Biography: S-Z | publisher = A.P.H. Publishing Corporation | isbn = 9788176482356 | page = 10}}</ref>
|7= 7. Safa Begum<ref name="Archives1970">{{cite book | author = Maharashtra (India). Dept. of Archives | date = 1970 | title = Maharashtra Archives, Volume 5 | publisher = Director, Government Print. and Stationery, Maharashtra State. | page = 13}}</ref>
|8= 8. [[Bahadur Shah I|Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Bahadur Shah I, Mughal Emperor]]
|9= 9. Dilruba<ref>Muni Lal, ''Mini Mughals'' (1989), p. 29</ref>
|10=
|11=
|12= 12. Nawab Sa'adat Khan Zulfiqar Jang<ref>{{cite book|last1=University|first1=Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim|title=Medieval India : a miscellany|date=1972|publisher=Asia Pub. House.|location=London|isbn=9780210223932|pages=252}}</ref>
|13=
|14=
|15=
|16= 16. [[Aurangzeb|Muhi-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor]]
|17= 17. Nawab Bai of [[Rajauri]]
|18=
|19=
|20=
|21=
|22=
|23=
|24= 24. Sayyid Hussain Marashi
|25=
|26=
|27=
|28=
|29= }}

==See also==
*[[Mughal Empire]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Royal consorts of Afghanistan|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Mughal princesses]]
[[Category:1740s births]]
[[Category:People from the Durrani Empire]]
[[Category:Afghan royal consorts]]
[[Category:Daughters of emperors]]
[[Category:18th-century Mughal Empire people]]

Hazrat Begum - Revision history

HungHanks23355 at 07:47, 17 July 2025